KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 31 — Shares on Bursa Malaysia are expected to experience further sideway consolidation next week within a narrow 1,660-1,680 points trading band following the weakening ringgit and soft recovery in commodities.
Affin Hwang Investment Bank Vice-President/Head of Retail Research Datuk Dr Nazri Khan Adam Khan said the local bourse, however, would get little support from the pause in the US Federal Reserve interest rate and the impending European Central Bank/Japanese bond-buying stimulus.
“We also expect positive rotation play after the presentation of Budget 2016 which significantly focuses on construction and plantation sectors,” he told Bernama.
He said that Budget 2016 is the best market catalyst to cushion weaknesses as it has the right focus in balancing economic growth, improving government efficiency and maintaining fiscal discipline to boost corporate earnings growth.
“As investors are getting more cautious on Budget 2016 ahead of the key Federal Open Market Committee meeting, we reiterate our views that the FBMKLCI could possibly take a sideway track just above its immediate support of 1,660 points this week,” he added.
On a weekly basis, the key benchmark FBM KLCI finished at 1,665.71, down 45.22 points from 1,710.93 last Friday.
The FBM Emas Index decreased 259.45 points to 11,573.90, the FBMT100 Index depreciated 268.76 points to 11,256.03, the FBM Emas Shariah lost 237.73 points to 12,392.83, the FBM 70 slipped 169.87 points to 12,767.61, and the FBM Ace dipped 47.22 points to 6,214.05.
Sector-wise, the Finance Index declined 452.17 points to 14,61.21, the Plantation Index trimmed 67.27 points to 7,540.21, and the Industrial Index fell 61.85 points to 3,306.65.
Weekly turnover decreased to 10.24 billion units worth RM10.06 billion from 11.93 billion units worth RM10.13 billion last week.
Main market volume depreciated to 5.54 billion units worth RM9.14 billion from 6.20 billion units worth RM9.15 billion.
Warrant turnover went down to 1.75 billion units worth RM263.86 million from 2.83 billion units worth RM430.87 million.
The ACE market volume expanded to 2.95 billion units worth RM654.58 million from 2.89 billion units worth RM542.30 million last Friday. — Bernama
